The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for producing final printed products.
A method and apparatus of this type are disclosed in WO-A-98/33656 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 6,234,466, wherein at least one folded preproduct is inserted into a folded main product in the closed state or is closed following insertion. Then, at least one further printed product coming to lie beside the closed preproduct is inserted, whereupon opening of the preproduct and, finally, insertion of at least one further printed product into the product are carried out. According to this method, a final printed product can be produced with two folded preproducts, into which in each case at least one product for insertion is inserted, arranged beside each other in a folded main product. In order to carry out this method, an apparatus has pocket-like compartments each having two side walls, one side wall being assigned a prefold holding element for opening the main product and the preproducts, and the other side wall being assigned a product holding element. In order to open the products, either the compartments can be pivoted or the prefold holding element is arranged such that it can be pivoted from one side wall to the other side wall and back again.
A device for gathering, collating and inserting printed products is disclosed in EP-A-O 346 578. Holding arrangements arranged one behind another have saddle-like supports. The walls of these supports delimit pocket-like holding parts. The printed products inserted into the holding parts by a first feeder are opened by an opening apparatus, so that printed products fed in by means of the feeders can be inserted into the first opened printed product. If the opening apparatus is switched off, the printed products fed into a holding part by the feeders come to lie beside one another. Furthermore, the printed products can be fed in by the feeders with an open side in front, the printed products being opened by means of an opening device and placed astride the saddle-like supports. One of the walls is in each case provided with a gripper and can be pivoted toward the other wall of an adjacent support, in order to open the printed product introduced into the relevant holding part.
In a method disclosed by EP-A-O 911 289, a pocket of an insertion machine is fed with a main product, which is opened in the pocket and then, in order to produce a final printed product, is fed with partial products and/or enclosures by means of insertion. In a subsequent section, a production path of the insertion machine, the pockets in which the final printed products remain are loaded with a further main product, which is opened for the purpose of inserting partial products and/or enclosures.
It is an object of the present invention to further develop a generic method and a generic apparatus of the above described type such that the ability to manipulate the printed products simply and reliably is ensured.